Energy at heart of global goals, Paris Agreement —Amina Mohammed

Speaking at this year’s Vienna Energy Forum, UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed said that achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal on energy, with its targets on universal access, energy efficiency and renewable energy, is central to both the UN’s global goals, and achieving the central goal of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which is to limit the maximum global average temperature rise to as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“The 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement are mutually reinforcing and inseparable. And it is why Member States have overwhelmingly endorsed both. Implementing the 2030 Agenda and addressing climate change must go hand-in-hand,” she said.

The UN Deputy Secretary General also warned that time is running out, and that climate change impacts, driven by globally rising temperatures, are accelerating. Because of this, the Paris Agreement needs to be rapidly implemented and clean energy scaled up:

“Droughts, floods, high heat, extreme weather, and rising seas are displacing people as never before and putting lives and livelihoods in jeopardy. And there is a real humanitarian cost, climate impacts have already incurred huge expense for business owners and the insurance industry. No country or sector is immune,” she said.